The present invention relates to a vacuum process apparatus comprising a control means for determining an order of loading samples of the vacuum process apparatus having a plurality of process chambers and a method of operating the vacuum process apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to a vacuum process apparatus and a method of operating the vacuum process apparatus, which can improve the efficiency of processing samples in the operation of parallel processes using a plurality of process chambers.
A vacuum process apparatus having a control means for determining the order of loading samples into a plurality of process chambers is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-189687. This vacuum process apparatus has a system connecting a plurality of process chambers in which process scheduling is performed based on a priority order of the samples to be processed.
Further, a vacuum process apparatus for performing processing in parallel using a plurality of process chambers is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 63-133532. In a case where processing is performed in the vacuum process apparatus of a system connecting a plurality of process chambers to a transfer chamber in parallel, samples are loaded in the order of loading samples to the two process chambers so that the numbers of the samples from two sample cassettes become equal to each other.
In the case where processing is performed in a plurality of process chambers in parallel, since the processing time will not always be equal in all of the process chambers, even if samples are loaded in the order of loading samples to the two process chambers so that the numbers of the samples from two sample cassettes become equal to each other, there is a problem in that useless waiting time occurs in loading the samples into the process chambers.